


Quixotry

by MissCoppelia



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Kinda Fluffy, Modern AU, No Pregnancy, Scrabble, Strip Scrabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-07-31 17:11:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20118649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissCoppelia/pseuds/MissCoppelia
Summary: After five years of Scrabble games, Rey is tired of Ben challenging her plays.Turns out her revenge is very sweet indeed.





	Quixotry

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts), [QueenOfCarrotFlowers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenOfCarrotFlowers/gifts).

> Huge thanks to [quixoticlux](https://archiveofourown.org/users/quixoticlux) for the inspiration for this fic and letting me run with it. Also to [leoba](https://archiveofourown.org/users/leoba/pseuds/leoba) for the absolutely perfect moodboard and for always supporting my writing!

  


"Wheezily is not a word, Rey," Ben drones, bored already from correcting her at almost every play.   
  
"Is so," Rey tuts. She knows she's right. She knows she's about to get 67 points, which would put her just behind Ben's score for the night. Normally she'd be much further behind.  
  
She thrusts the Scrabble dictionary in his face and points out the word. It's there. She checked ahead of time.  
  
_𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘉𝘦𝘯 𝘚𝘰𝘭𝘰, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘴𝘴. _  
  
Ben just raises his eyebrows as he reads, then looks down at the board. "Sixty nine points."  
  
Rey rests back on her chair, smugly ignoring the fact that her calculations were off by two points -It works in her favor, after all- while Ben writes down her score.  
  
He's been doing this to her ever since Friday Night Scrabble started up during college.  
  
Ben and Finn met in their engineering classes at First Order U, and Finn met Rey and Poe while he was taking a summer course at Rebel Bay Community College. After graduation, Finn wanted a way to keep in touch and they were the only ones still in the area. So, Friday Scrabble Nights.

At first, Rey could barely keep up with Ben, who usually won. Poe was a close second. Finn was usually third or fourth depending on whether Rey had good tiles.  
  
Every night, he'd call her out on most of her plays. No British spellings or slang. She always had a dictionary near.  
  
By now, five years later, she's learned more than a few tricks and Rey regularly competes with Poe for second place.  
  
But tonight Poe is off on a work trip, and Finn is currently passed out from a migraine on the couch. It's just her and Ben, who's particularly testy this evening.  
  
Rey is pretty sure Ben hates her. How else could she explain five years of agony any time she makes a creative play. She wants so badly to beat his ass at this game just once.  
  
He casually plays 'Jezebel' on one of the Es from her play, and it hits a triple word score. 75 points.  
  
A few moves later, Rey sees another point-scoring opportunity on the Y she played earlier. She's pretty sure it's a word, she doesn't bother checking the dictionary.  
  
"Quixotry? C'mon, Rey."  
  
Rey imagines Ben Solo being beaten to death by Scrabble dictionaries.  
  
As he grabs for their copy, Rey pulls it away.  
  
"I have a proposal for you," she says haughtily.  
  
"What?" Ben raises his dark eyes in her direction. He looks a little mad at her for some reason, so what can it hurt.  
  
"If I'm right, you have to take of a piece of clothing."  
  
"And," she continues. "If I'm wrong, I'll take off a piece of clothing."  
  
Across from her, Ben frowns deeply & pulls his hand back. "Are you proposing we do Strip Scrabble?"  
  
Rey feels herself turn red. "Maybe you'll stop questioning my every play to keep your dignity intact."  
  
It's obvious that Ben won't do it. He never goes to the beach with them during the summer, never wears shorts, never shows off an inch of his body, and hides his ears behind long hair. It's pretty clear to Rey that he's more than a bit self-conscious.  
  
Then there's the fact that he definitely cannot stand her. He doesn't quite avoid her, but it's clear that he's mostly here for Finn and Poe's company, not hers. Out of the four of them, they are the least close to each other. It's too bad because Rey finds him a bit handsome.  
  
Really, if his personality wasn't so awful, she'd probably have a crush on him.  
  
"You're on."  
  
Rey blinks as the shock hits her. "Sorry?"  
  
"You've got more clothes on than me, and honestly I'm tired of having to check every other play you make," Ben grumbles. "Let's do it."  
  
It shouldn't be possible to burn from blushing, but Rey feels her cheeks do just that.  
  
"Good," she says sharply, hoping to hide her embarrassment. She hands him the dictionary and watches him leaf through the pages.  
  
𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴.  
  
"Huh," Ben says. "It's in here."  
  
Rey grins like she's won the lottery as Ben looks over the board.  
  
"Fifty...nine points," he determines. He looks up at her with an upset expression before shrugging his shirt off.  
  
Rey nearly dies when she sees his chest. Ben Solo is hot AF.

* * *

  
Ben has been avoiding romance for the past six years. It's not that he doesn't want to date, it's that his last three girlfriends all broke up with him because he was "difficult" and "grumpy all the time."  
  
He knows they're right. Been dealing with it all his life.  
  
This is why he knows the universe is just trying to test him with Rey. He fell for her immediately when they met, but he's pretty sure she's never been that attracted to him because he opened his stupid mouth and immediately corrected her the first time they played Scrabble.  
  
Her face had twisted into a grimace, like she had wanted to tell him off, but she had said nothing. She silently took her tiles off the board and redid the play.  
  
And then he kept correcting her because she was new to Scrabble and didn't know all the rules like no slang words.  
  
Even when she had the rules down pat, she'd make wild guesses at words and he figured she was wrong about 75-85% of the time. It drove Ben crazy, but it was also kind of cute. Just like her freckles and her wispy, brown hair, and the dimples in her smile.  
  
He figured it would just be easiest to like her from afar. There were so many reasons not to like someone like him, he wouldn't try to force his feelings on her. And he had made that pact with himself not to date anyway. It was just easier this way, to remain a little distant.  
  
But tonight, when Rey had suggested Strip Scrabble, his mind went nuts.  
  
Ben immediately imagines her in nothing but her underwear, groaning about how he was right again just before she takes off her bra.  
  
And then he has to pull himself back because Rey is right in fucking front of him.

It's rude and creepy of him to imagine her stripping for him, and he doesn't know what to do because she's the one who suggested it.   
  
So he just goes for it. If he can hold himself back and not correct Rey every other turn, then no one has to strip very much. She has a jacket on too.  
  
Turns out she's right about "quixotry," so he takes off his shirt and tries not to let anxiety creep in.  
  
Ben doesn't like being half naked around other people. He used to be fat in middle school before he discovered weightlifting and jogging, and some of that shame still lingers.

He can't imagine Rey is enjoying him being half naked either because she's staring hard. Like there's something wrong with his chest.   
  
Ben scrunches over and inspects his tiles and the board so that maybe she won't have to look at whatever it is that's bothering her.  
  
He makes his play quickly, tallies his score, and retreats, crossing his arms over his stomach to mask himself again.  
  
Rey looks at him for a long moment, then sighs and shrugs off her jacket.  
  
His head snaps up. "What are you doing?"  
  
"Nothing?" she says, wary. "It's warm."  
  
Ben is now the one staring too hard as Rey contemplates her next move and her tiles. Thank goodness she's not paying attention to him because the sight of her slim neck and the curve of her waist is overriding his anxiety.  
  
Unfortunately it's also making him a little stiff.  
  
That gives him another fresh wave of anxiety about being a total creep. He does not want to be a total creep in front of Rey. (Or any girl, really, but especially Rey.)  
  
He has time to think about the many ways he could fuck this up because Rey is taking forever with her next play.

* * *

Rey feels like a lobster being boiled alive in her own skin. Ben...has no right to be this hot. And to hide himself instead of giving her a view of the goods.  
  
Yes, she knows he's self-conscious, but tonight she knows the meaning of the term "thirsty," in the biblical sense.  
  
She tries to focus on her next play, really she does. But she also wants Ben to challenge her and be wrong so she can force him to take off his pants.  
  
Her tiles aren't very good this round. Too many consonants. Rey can't think of anything great to play, period.  
  
This whole thing is starting to feel like a colossal mistake when it hits her.  
  
She could make a mistake.  
  
She could be the one to take her shirt off next.  
  
Ben Solo could get a look at her tits. She wouldn't mind.  
  
These thoughts trigger a happy tingle between her legs.  
  
She puts down "sicophant," making use of an I and a T already on the board, then beams up at Ben, proud of herself.  
  
He frowns as he leans over to look at her play. "Rey, that's not how you spell 'sycophant.'"  
  
"What? Yes, it is!" She's never been so happy to be indignant.  
  
Because she's realized something: Ben might be grumpy and pedantic and too much of a stickler, but he's not a bad person.  
  
If the group goes out for pizza, he'll do stuff like hold the door open for everyone. He remembers her birthday every year and gets her a little gift card. In fact, aside from the Scrabble games, he's just quiet and polite.  
  
They've never gotten a chance to get close at least partially because Rey's never really given him an opportunity. And how she wants to have a moment with him, even if it means being shameless in front of him.  
  
Worst case scenario: they get naked and he's still an asshole to her during Scrabble games.  
  
Ben holds out the dictionary to her, a miserable look on his face. "It's spelled with a Y."  
  
Rey lets her face drop in surprise shock. "Oh."  
  
"I'm sorry," he mumbles.  
  
Rey shakes her head. "No, no. I proposed Strip Scrabble, I'll follow the rules."  
  
"But your jacket..."  
  
"I took that off on my own! It's okay."  
  
She wiggles her hips a little as she pulls her top off, just to give him a show.  
  
It's cold out & she's only worn a bralette. Whoops.  
  
Her nipples are definitely reacting to the cold and to this whole situation, and Rey isn't sure if she should let Ben see it or show some humility.  
  
She decides to cover herself with an arm and lean over the table to decide her next play. Give him a flash of cleavage instead.  
  
Watching him carefully, in the in between moments when he's too distracted to notice, Rey realizes that he's absolutely flustered by her.  
  
His cheeks are bright red, his eyes are all over the place, and his hands are curling in and out on his knees. She loves it.  
  
She plays some low-scoring word because honestly her tiles are really shit, and they need to open up another side of the board before they can vie for the good point-scoring spots. Plus it might seem less suspicious if no one has to strip for a few rounds.  
  
Ben plays something equally innocuous, his hands accidentally scattering a few tiles as he drops his new word down on the board.  
  
The move brings Rey a little closer to where she wants to be, to where she thinks she can trip Ben up again, but for now she plays another throwaway.  
  
When Ben's turn has passed again, she plays "oakum," which isn't a word she should know, but Rey just deep-dived a Youtube series about ancient shipbuilding techniques, so she does.  
  
He frowns at it, contemplating whether or not to question her.  
  
"You don't think it's a word," Rey accuses.  
  
For some reason it feels so good to trap him like this, to force his hand. Rey won't win this game of Scrabble, but she's definitely winning.  
  
"It seems wrong." he says.  
  
Rey hands him the dictionary. "You're free to find out."  
  
He takes it with a cautious look.  
  
Rey licks her lips when he starts flipping through the pages.  
  
"Oakum is a tarred rope commonly used in ship-building," she taunts.  
  
Ben's face falls when he reaches the page and finds the same definition. It reminds her that he's self conscious about his body and her guilt returns.  
  
His face is stoic as he unbuckles his belt and slides his nondescript, baggy workman style jeans over his hips.  
  
Rey, for her part, keeps her eyes on his, not wanting to humiliate him too badly. Her reward for winning this needs to be more than just thoroughly trouncing him.  
  
Her reward for winning would preferably involve Ben's hands on her and his lips everywhere his hands aren't. So she has to encourage the right mood.  
  
"You're a lot fitter than I expected," she offers. "How have you never had a girlfriend in all this time?"  
  
Across from her, Ben flushes more.  
  


* * *

Ben wishes he hadn't opened his stupid mouth. Now he's mostly naked, and Rey could notice the half-chub forming in his boxer briefs at any moment. How she hasn't already is a mystery to him. 

He's shocked when she compliments his body instead of noticing what a creep he is.  
  
"I don't think I'm made for dating," he replies, trying to bring his focus back to his tiles. "All my ex-girlfriends thought I was an asshole."  
  
Somehow, he finds his next play.  
  
Rey hums. "I think you're selling yourself short. And that you haven't found the right person yet."  
  
There's no way he can look at her right now, but Ben has no idea what she's talking about. He just lays his tiles down, writes down his new score total, and rummages for new tiles. He'll keep his eyes on the board so Rey won't think he's ogling her.  
  
"You forgot to give yourself the triple word score."  
  
His eyes snap up to her face. Rey is watching him, but she taps on the board to point out his mistake so his eyes are forced there instead.  
  
"I bet you'd find someone, if you were open to looking."  
  
"It's not about that."  
  
"What's it about then," she asks.  
  
"I actually am an asshole, as you know, so I don't want to subject anyone else to that," he says, a little too sharply as he corrects his score.  
  
"I don't think you're an asshole, Ben."  
  
He looks up at her again at that.  
  
"Quite the opposite."  
  
Rey bites her lip. She looks nervous, but Ben isn't sure he understands why. She can't be flirting with him. She just can't be. Life doesn't go like that for anyone, let alone him.  
  
"After all these years, I'm surprised you don't want to murder me," he says, looking over at Finn.  
  
It's weird how their friend has managed to stay asleep all this time, and Ben's starting to feel bad that they're still here when he's obviously in no position to have people around. Still, Finn's the type to offer his whole life to someone, if they needed it.  
  
"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Rey asks while Ben's lost in thought about Finn and the morality of going home so their friend can rest up properly.  
  
"What?" His head whips back to Rey. "Why would I think that??"  
  
"Because of all the weird plays I make when we play Scrabble."  
  
"Rey- No, I would never think less of you for that, what the hell?"  
  
Rey smiles. "And I don't think less of you just because you're a bit gruff when you correct me."  
  
Ben's eyes widen when he realizes it. Rey doesn't hate his guts. His crush of way-too-long doesn't hate him.  
  
In fact, she's standing up and walking toward him right now, giving him a beautiful view of her exposed midriff and her abs. Rey sits beside him, very close beside him, and pats his bare thigh.  
  
"Are you really not open to finding love?"  
  
He is burning up at her touch. "Uh..."  
  
She leans in a bit closer. "What if it was sitting right next to you and you didn't even know it?"  
  
His brain has never quite short-circuited like this before. Ben feels like he is missing key components of his mind when he finally reboots. Meanwhile Rey is staring expectantly.  
  


But that can't be a hint she likes him back because what if he gets it wrong and then she really hates him forever. 

"I don't know if I'd see it?" he tries, weakly. 

Rey's eyes drop down to his lips & he nearly hyperventilates. She leans in & gives him a light kiss on the lips.

She pulls back and asks, "What about now?" 

Ben throat makes a very unhelpful gurgling noise. Rey laughs and kisses him again, a little bit deeper this time. And long enough that he unfreezes and pushes her back gently. 

"Rey, wha-"

"I do want to murder you with a Scrabble dictionary sometimes," she responds. "But other than that, I think you're sweet. And handsome."  
  
He realizes his mouth is hanging open and he should shut it.  
  
"What do you think, Ben? What do you think about me?"  
  
Oh, what a question. Ben could give lectures on how he feels about Rey, about her simple charms...  
  
He kisses her instead. Much better than words. Faster too. This doesn't have to be a round of Scrabble where he can spend too much time thinking about it.  
  
Rey's kiss is every bit as sweet and intoxicating as he imagined. It's not long before they're full-on making out on Finn's love seat, Rey pressing into his side and exploring his mouth with her tongue.  
  
Eventually she climbs into his lap, bumping straight into his fresh erection.  
  
Ben has to grip her far too tight to hold back a loud moan.  
  
"We shouldn't do this here," he whispers when he pulls away from her.  
  
Rey nods and moves off him. He thinks she's about to put her clothes on and suggest they go to their cars, but instead she takes his hand and tugs.  
  
He follows her to Finn's bathroom where all of a sudden Rey's bent over, looking through one of the cabinets. She emerges holding a condom.  
  
"Uh," he starts.  
  
"We don't have to, but I'd like to," she says quickly. "So just in case."  
  
She puts it down and wraps her arms around him.  
  
Faster than Ben would like to admit, he's got her half naked & perched on the sink while he pumps his fingers into her & she rubs his cock.  
  
It feels so good after so long, & best of all, it's Rey who has her hand wrapped around him. They're both whimpering as they kiss and stroke.  
  
He's the one reaching for the condom now, hurrying to put it on while Rey kisses his ear and whispers about how happy she is that they're doing this.  
  
He lines himself up to her entrance, but pauses to look at her. She's so beautiful like this, flushed, her eyelids heavy.  
  
"Are you free tomorrow?" he asks. "I-I want to take you on a proper date."  
  
Rey's eyebrows raise for a moment before her face relaxes into a smile. "Yes. I'd really like that."  
  
"Great," he smiles back.  
  
She leans over to kiss him again, and Ben takes the opportunity to push in.  


It's hard not to lose himself in her, but he can tell Rey needs a moment to adjust to his size by the way she squeaks and the fingernails digging into his skin. He keeps his thrusts gentle and shallow, and moves a hand to rub at her clit until he can feel that there's more room for him.  
  
Rey moans into his neck a little too loudly and he feels her fluttering around him. It takes Ben a moment to realize he made her cum. That makes him so intensely proud that he thrusts harder.  
  
Unfortunately that means he cums about 30 seconds later, but it's so, so good.  
  
Rey whimpers as the condom expands within her, making her clench as he rides out his orgasm. Ben pulls her close as he finishes, eager to kiss her more now that they've shared this.  
  
Eventually, he slips out and ties up the evidence, hiding it under a paper towel in the trashcan.  
  
He pulls up his boxer briefs and steps outside while Rey cleans herself and puts her pants back on. He'll try to dress quietly and quickly so Finn doesn't think anything's amiss.  
  
Except Finn is laying on the couch, very much awake, and checking his phone.  
  
"F-Finn," Ben stammers, trying to think of an adequate lie that would explain his state of undress.  
  
Finn turns his head and grins. "I'm not mad. Actually, I'm quite happy for you two."  
  
He hears Rey close the bathroom door behind him, and her footsteps get closer.  
  
"Hi, Rey."  
  
Ben turns to look at her, and she's just as mortified as he is.  
  
"Congrats, you two. Poe and I have been waiting nearly 5 years for you to finally bang."  
  
"Finn, I'm so sorry," Rey chokes. "We shouldn't have-"  
  
"No worries. Cleaning products are under the sink," Finn says.  
  
While they're scrubbing down Finn's entire bathroom, he strolls by to remind them of the location of his outdoor trash cans.  
  
"Also, I better be in the wedding party or you're never invited over ever again."  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> If you want to read more of my twitter fics as they happen, follow me! [@MsCoppelia](https://twitter.com/MsCoppelia)


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